Current status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 18 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the Early Learning and Childcare formula for funding provided to local authorities, in light of concerns that children who turn three shortly after a term start date, such as in early January, cannot access funded nursery provision until the following term.
The Scottish Government provides the vast majority of local government funding – including funding for delivery of the 1140 entitlement – by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.
The needs-based formula used to distribute the total funding available for local government is kept under constant review and is agreed with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities each year. While the Scottish Government is always open to suggestions to improve the funding formula, any fundamental changes must properly come through COSLA in the first instance.